Pai Dao Din awarded prestigious South Korean human rights prize

Student pro-democracy activist Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, or Pai Dao Din, has been awarded the 2017 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights from the South Korea-based May 18 Memorial Foundation.

Jatupat, who is currently detained on a charge of lese majeste, will also receive a prize of US$50,000.

According to the online news agency Prachatai, Jatupat had been nominated for the honour by the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP). The award recognises individuals or organisations who have made a great contribution to the struggle for human rights, democracy and peace in their own country in Asia.

The prize promotes the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement in which the people of Gwangju in South Korea resisted brutal military forces for the sake of democracy and human Rights in 1980.

In the email reportedly sent to Jatupat and the IHRP, he was congratulated for winning the prize and invited to the award presentation ceremony that will take place on May 18 in Gwangju.

The email, signed by the foundation’s international affairs coordinator Inrae You, said that that the prize selection committee thought highly of Jatupat’s “brave and noble” actions against dictatorship and violations of human rights.

They noted that his struggles had aroused attention about political conditions and the importance of their improvement among citizens, especially the young, and had helped bring democracy to Thailand.

Jatupat is facing a lese majeste charge after sharing a BBC article deemed insulting to the monarchy.

His father Viboon Boonpattararaksa told The Nation that he or Jatupat’s mother may represent him at next month’s ceremony in South Korea.

The prize promotes the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement in which the people of Gwangju in South Korea resisted brutal military forces for the sake of democracy and human Rights in 1980.

In the email reportedly sent to Jatupat and the IHRP, he was congratulated for winning the prize and invited to the award presentation ceremony that will take place on May 18 in Gwangju.

The email, signed by the foundation’s international affairs coordinator Inrae You, said that that the prize selection committee thought highly of Jatupat’s “brave and noble” actions against dictatorship and violations of human rights.

They noted that his struggles had aroused attention about political conditions and the importance of their improvement among citizens, especially the young, and had helped bring democracy to Thailand.

Jatupat is facing a lese majeste charge after sharing a BBC article deemed insulting to the monarchy.

His father Viboon Boonpattararaksa told The Nation that he or Jatupat’s mother may represent him at next month’s ceremony in South Korea.